Everybody has staples to their diet – mine just happen to be condiments! After making the decision for our family to start our “health journey” a few months ago, and eating a strictly whole-foods / vegan diet, the first thing I had to get in order were my sauces and flavorings! Here are some of my favorites:

1. Bragg’s Liquid Aminos

This stuff is pretty amazing – I have had BLA in my life for at least the past 15 years or so (my Mother-in-law is a health crusader who got my wife into it long ago). When we decided to follow a vegan lifestyle, this stuff became my new go-to flavor! Veggies, Potatoes, Rice, Quinoa, even fresh hummus, this is the magic unicorn daydreams are made of! We used to get ours at our local health-food store (Super Natural Market in Bristol) but it can be found cheaper at Price Chopper and even Whole Foods (Whole Paycheck) when it’s on sale!

2. Nutritional Yeast

Feeling cheesy anyone? I have a little love-hate relationship going with Nutritional Yeast – it can be soooo yummy and sometimes I just don’t feel like being reminded of cheese. It is worth getting acquainted with this delight – it goes great on salads, pasta, popcorn, potatoes, you name it! *note: beware “brewers yeast” sometimes this is mislabeled nutritional yeast, but it’s not the same thing so play it safe! Bob’s Red Mill makes a large flake version, and Bragg’s and Red Star make nice “shakeable” mini flake versions.

3. Coconut Oil

The health benefits of coconut oil are vast – for a great video and article visit Mercola and get a little smarter. The high lauric acid content is excellent for your health. It has a high smoke point, so it’s great for frying – it also is very stable so it stays well outside the fridge (for something crazy like 2 years!) I keep it in a little tupperware container and use it instead of butter! *note: you want to get “Centrifuge Extracted” Coconut oil – there are a bunch of ways to make coconut oil, and they’re not all the same!

4. Himalayan Salt

Back to Mercola for a little more video goodness… So here’s a mind blower – table salt is like “crack-salt” it’s refined and nasty for your body. The truth though is REAL salt is excellent for you – it’s necessary for good health! This pink healthy salt (Himalayan) Tastes AMAZING – it has a wonderful flavor and is actually good for you! Throw some on the coconut butter you are using for butter to get that creamy salty kick you crave! After much researching, my Toadette got some in little salt mill (grinder) and it gets lots of use around here! You can also get these really cool Himalayan Salt Slabs for cooking and presenting food – they give a pleasant flavor to food you prepare on them… like a huge human salt lick… mmmmmmm!

Beginning to de-clutter today – starting out with my old x10 Home Automation setup – if you havent had the joy of turning on and dimming your lights from a remote control, you should bid a buck and try it out 😉

Just received a replacement AC adapter this morning via FedEx Priority Overnight envelope… AT THE OFFICE! Twice on the phone I told HP to send everything to my house because this is my personal computer. How is communication this hard for a huge company? I’m just guessing, but there must be hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted because of their inconsistent or un-followed practices and policies. When the customer specifically requests that he needs to change the shipping address (twice on the same phone call, to the same person) And that person CONFIRMS the request… need I say more?

The speed of them getting this out since my friday phone call was great! I guess there is at least one good thing I can note; alas, I can not test this adapter until I get home – that is where I left my Mini 1000 with the expectation everything would be shipped there.

One more notation: HP has some tight reins on their replacement pieces – I only received the half of the adapter I complained about (the brick and jack that plugs into the laptop) The AC wall plug end-to-adapter cord was left out. Although this may seem like a silly point, HP may be now trying to weed out those who lie about their adapter being broken to get a second adapter for the “road, office, etc…” by only giving out half and adapter (thus requiring you to use the existing plug from your current adapter). This is probably a “smart move” on their part, and they’re saving what, $.10 of plastic cord while dropping $15 in overnight shipping, all so I can feel like i got a somewhat cheesy, half-fix? I’m not really complaining here, but come on… really?